ROH on Sinclair – Episode 174 – 17th January 2015
After his controversial and protracted release from the WWE in the summer of 2014, and after negotiating his way out of a no compete clause, there was a red hot (albeit hugely expensive) free agent on the market. Alberto Del Rio (now competing as Alberto El Patron) was announced as a forthcoming attraction for Ring Of Honor…making great waves at the time as it came against a backdrop of rumoured budget cuts from Sinclair, and TNA reportedly throwing everything they had at Alberto to get him to sign for them. ‘The Boss’ makes his debut on ROH television tonight, alongside a scheduled main event of Jay Briscoe facing an unspecified member of The Kingdom. We return to Nashville, TN to join Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino.
Jay Briscoe announces that he is going to defend the World Title tonight, regardless of which member of The Kingdom he faces. He wants them to put the ‘Title Of Love’ on the line too…
Cedric Alexander vs Frankie Kazarian
There’s not a lot to say as far as ‘issues’ between these two go. In fact, these guys don’t seem to have a whole lot of direction in general. The Addiction are presumably still interested in the Tag Titles even though you’d be forgiven if you didn’t know it. And the booking issues they’ve been experiencing pale in comparison to Cedric Alexander – who has been stuck in the same spot for months. These guys were on the same team at Final Battle, so will have at least some familiarity with each other if nothing else.
Daniels is on commentary, and of course is a lot of fun. We barely have a minute of action before the first commercial break, which seems like odd planning. When we come back Cedric is busy suplexing Kaz over the top rope to the floor. It’s only passing offence for him though as Frankie hits the Jerry Lynn leg drop before applying a cravat. The veteran targets the neck, although Alexander isn’t remotely interested in selling it. He hits two thirds of the Three Amigos then springs off the ropes to hit a tornado DDT. Kazarian’s slingshot DDT is countered to the Michinoku Driver for 2. Kick 2 Kill blocked though, and this time Frankie does get to hit the slingshot DDT. They go through a sh*tty, super fake looking exchange in the corner…which ends with Kaz landing a springboard sunset bomb. Quite ridiculously, Alexander doesn’t sell that at all and pops straight up to hit the 540 Kick…only for Kazarian to then counter his springboard lariat into an Ace Crusher. Tomikaze wins it for Kaz at 08:07 (shown).
Rating - ** - Parts of this were quite exciting, and at the very least this felt so much fresher than the tired opening match last week between Mark Briscoe and Roderick Strong. Normally I’m not one to complain about no selling…but it got beyond a joke here. Cedric, in particular, just couldn’t be bothered to sell a single thing Kazarian did. When we reach the point where guys take huge bumps off the ropes, then bounce up as if it was absolutely nothing then we might as well not bother anymore. The inability to sell properly is really starting to become an issue with Cedric
Matt Taven is revealed as the man facing Jay Briscoe tonight, and he plans on leaving as champion.
Donovan Dijak vs Jake Dirden
This weeks Top Prospect Tournament match brings together two sizeable individuals. Both appear to be north of 6’5 instantly making them stand out from the vast majority of the ROH roster. Dijak was among the more well-known of the 2015 tournament entrants, and looks like he entered one of the ROH training seminars straight off a basketball court. Dirden is a rather generic bearded madman, although Kevin Kelly appears to have invented a rather fun gimmick of him getting ‘sent home’ from a training session for injuring seven other guys. He also has experience in Japan
Dirden’s finisher is the Asiatic Spike, and he goes right for it out of the Code Of Honor. Dijak fights out with a shortarm superkick…but then botches an Irish whip and gets mauled in the corner by the unstable Dirden. The Decade is at ringside for some reason (is Jacobs pissed off at Dirden stealing his Bruiser Brody impersonation gimmick?)…and watch as the 6’7 Donovan Dijak takes flight with a huge SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! Chokeslam gets 2 for Dirden. BACK DROP DRIVER! But rather than finish it, Jake is more obsessed with hitting the Asiatic Spike. That proves to be his undoing as Dijak counters it into a BURNING HAMMER KNEE STRIKE (Feast Your Eyes) to win at 03:54
Rating - N/A - I’m quite vocal about despising the current talent recruitment system, whereby substandard, cheap talents are effectively buying their way onto the roster by attending the bogus training camps. However, I found both of these two pretty engaging and wouldn’t be averse to seeing either of them pop up again in future. Dirden certainly has the more rounded gimmick, but his experience working in NOAH presumably makes him more expensive and with a busier schedule, making Dijak the obvious choice to win. Donovan was impressive in his own right, with some impressive feats of agility and an awesome finisher covering up a noticeable lack in character and charisma.
A commercial airs for a forthcoming Chikara show which is pretty weird. Even weirder is the ‘change is coming’ Knights Of The Rising Dawn promo which follows…
Kevin Kelly is in the ring next to introduce the debuting Alberto El Patron. He rejoices in being able to refer to himself as a ‘wrestler’ and hypes up his match with Christopher Daniels next week. He then states his intention to challenge for the World Title…which brings out a rather irritated Jay Lethal. He thinks he is the top guy in ROH, and thinks the TV Title is the top prize in the company. El Patron is happy to fight him…but Truth Martini amusingly states that he has to climb the ranks and earn a shot at Lethal just like anyone else. Fun segment…
Nigel McGuinness brings out Jay Briscoe, both for the scheduled main event and to inform him who he will be wrestling at the 13th Anniversary Show (assuming he successfully defends the belt tonight). Jay himself has an answer – and suggests that Nigel books a fourway so he can face all three participants in last week’s main event.
Jay Briscoe vs Matt Taven – ROH World Title Match
Having already successfully defended his belt against both Michael Bennett and Adam Cole, Matt Taven is the third member of The Kingdom to challenge for Jay Briscoe’s World Title. This feud continues to rumble on and on, with some seriously violent matches now included amongst the Briscoe/Kingdom back catalogue. Is tonight the night a member of The Kingdom defeats Briscoe, or is tonight the night Jay gets his ‘Real World Title’ belt (now the ‘Title Of Love’) back from Maria?
Both Bennett and Maria take turns hopping up on the apron, trying to distract Jay and enable Taven to get the jump on him. Matt sees himself take a nasty spill when Briscoe blocks a springboard attempt, sending him to the floor and into a brawling environment where the champion is obviously likely to flourish. Thankfully for Taven, it’s also where Bennett and Maria lurk to help him – distracting Jay again so he can hit a RUNNING SUICIDE DIVE! Of course, with the champ scrambling to recover from that Mike Bennett is on hand to dish out a few cheap shots. Still he manages to get knees up to block the Five Star Frog Splash though. With an assist from Maria, Taven is soon able to re-establish his control with a superkick. Climax blocked into the turnbuckle flatliner, but such is the success of the united Kingdom onslaught that Briscoe stays down on the ground. Finally he snaps his opponent’s neck with the Rude Awakening. Superkick to the knee by Taven…only for him to get FLIPPED ONTO HIS FACE when attempting a super rana. JAY DRILLER wins it for Briscoe at 08:13 (shown).
Rating - *** - A very low-end 3* rating for this main event. I enjoyed it more than the Bennett defence, and thought I should reward it because they struck just about the perfect balance between Jay’s brawling, Taven’s athleticism and outside interference from a heel stable. I object to having the World Title defended in forgettable, filler TV bouts like this because I think it devalues the belt, but I thought this decent for what it was.
Michael Bennett dives in to nail Briscoe with the Title Of Love, as Maria taunts him for being unable to fight a girl. Mark Briscoe comes out to demand a Briscoes vs Kingdom match next week…
Rating - ** - Much like last week, you won’t remember this show for long after you’ve watched it but at the same time it wasn’t bad either. A perfectly perfunctory, albeit utterly ordinary hour of television. Dijak’s debut was impressive, it was great to see ROH get Alberto El Patron onto their show for the first time, and the World Title main event was okay as well. Still nothing to make you jump out of your seat and ignite ROH’s 2015 though, and still nothing to prove to me that Delirious is any closer to getting us out of the creative funk of the last eighteen months or so.